Guitarist ego?

Hey everyone, so i joined this band about 3 - 4 months ago and this is my first serious band, got our ep in the works, merch being printed, and multiple gigs booked its all very exciting! but one thing ive noticed (very funny actually) is that the guitarist's are so thick headed and egotistical in a humorous way, they both fight for the solo of the song and try to constantly outdo eachother im sure veterean bassist's know the drill, but the drummer and i always are the one's who tell em' to actually work towards the song and quit the pissing contest. While showing my other friends (guitarist) our music, they always comment "That was a good song but i could solo better during the outro" or compare there own skill to the guitarist, and i just try not to laugh.

So point of the discussion, Do you guys deal with egotistical guitarists? do you get frustrated towards it, or laugh and be glad where the bassist's (The rational one's), and maybe share some funny song writing/ rehearsal story's about your band's guitarist!

Sounds like fun. As long as you and your drummer can wrangle them then it remains funny. Problems will occur though if one or both of them doesn't find the jousting funny and it develops into real argy-bargy.

You might have to work out which one of them you're going to keep, or back up when the poo hits the fan area.

I only really get 2 versions of guitarist ego. 1 is constantly telling me to turn down, im too loud and they cant hear themselves (meanwhile my ears are bleeding from their rigs and I can only tell im playing things correctly by visual confirmation). Sometimes I respond by muting my rig and then playing through a song. I love it because they always tell me "thats perfect, just the right volume" then look like @$$holes when I tell them I had it muted. 2 is writing bass riffs for originals. The one guitarist is always trying to get me to play root notes only because they "make him sound better", whereas playing different noes "distract people from what he's playing".

In both cases the end result is me shaking my head and ultimately ignoring them.

I just wait for the guitarist to mess up, and then berate him mercilessly for the next two weeks. Honestly, we have no inflated egos in my country band. Best band o' brothers I've ever played with. Cooperative, mutually supportive, all "growed up".

Im lucky enough to play with some guys that have really nice gear and are more about the songs. We've recorded 3 albums and in almost 40 songs we have 1 song with a guitar solo. But if it was me I would have fun with it. have some running inside jokes going in the band. hide their wah pedals from them just have fun with it

get shock collars for both of them....zap em when they get to be too much

as said a bit of competition is really good but too much is
a ticking time bomb for band implosion

get with the rest of the band, make that everyone is on the same page, then issue a direct to the point statment that you have a no BS policy and that they need to get over themselves and work together

In every band I have ever been in, the guitarists have always been able to figure out which of them should play specific parts. They have also taken turns on solos. One might do the solo on one song, the other might do it on a different song. I really don't understand why so many people have ego problems in their bands. You can usually tell immediately if some has a big ego. I once had a guitarist come down for an audition and within a few minutes he said "I'm good and I know it". We asked him to leave without even letting him play. I do not put up with egos. Being in band is no different than playing on a sports team. Everyone has to work together.

I'm very lucky these days in that I'm working with a group of real pros. Top shelf players who are more interested in the song than how much solo time they get.

As for guitar player ego, I used to think it was confined to guitar, but have over the years seen enough of it from other instrument players I no longer ask which came first, the ego or the guitar.

These days I ask which came first, the instrument or the ego.

I've seen bass players ruin a band because they must be the center of attention and jam every sonic nook and cranny with bass fills, even when that fill clashes with the song/other solo. Some of these players are technical monsters, but are clueless when it comes to tasteful artistic bass playing.

Same for drummers and keyboard players, horn players, etc. It leads me to think the answer to my question is the ego definitely came first.